Timeline of the Arabs

1500? BC: The first kaaba shrine is founded in Mecca
853BC: First reference to Arabs in an Assyrian inscription
106 AD: Rome destroys the Nabatean kingdom of Petra (Jordan)
271 AD: Rome destroys the kingdom of Palmyra (Syria)
275 AD: the Lakhmids of Hira (on the Euphrates) are vassals of the Sassanids
300: "qasida" poems
350: the Aramaic-speaking Nabataeans (Jordan) develop the Arabic script
450: Qusayy, husband of the daughter of the king of Mecca, unifies the Quraysh tribe and founds a city around the shrine of Mecca
460: Persian king Firuz persecutes Jews, who emigrate to Arabia
500: southern Arabia is ruled by a Jewish kingdom
500: northern Arabia is ruled by the Kinda
500: the Arabs of Najran (southern Arabia) convert to Christianity
504: Mundhir III becomes king of the Lakhmids of Hira
512: First recorded inscription in Arabic
522: the Jewish Himyarite king of Yemen persecutes the Christians, which ask the Ethiopians for help
523: the Himyarites defeat the Ethiopians and massacre the Christians of Najran
525: the Jewish king Dhu Nuwas of Yemen dies and Yemen becomes an Ethiopian (Christian) colony
528: Harith ibn 'Amr (Arethas) king of Kinda dies
547: Abyssinian general Abreha proclaims himself king of southern Arabia
554: Mundhir III is defeated by the Byzantine phylarch Ghassanid Harith IV ibn Jabala
570: Christian Ethiopia tries to capture Mecca but is defeated by the Arabs
575: The Sassanians expel the Ethiopians and Yemen becomes a Sassanid province under Chrosroes II
595: At the age of 25 Muhammad (Mohammed) marries his wealthy employer, the 40-year-old Khadija
602: the Lakhmid dynasty of Hira ends
608: the Kaaba is erected in Mecca, a granite cube to enclose a black meteorite stone, a shrine to numerous Arabian tribal gods
610: Muhammad (Mohammed) of the Quraysh family preaches a new religion, Islam, in Mecca, which is at the time a model of religious tolerance (all gods are allowed)
615: Muslims travel to Ethiopia
622: Mohammed and his followers ("Muslims") migrate ("heijra") to Yathrib, which is renamed Medina

628: Yemen converts to Islam 

630: The warriors of Mohammed conquer Mecca and establish the first religious dictatorship in the world, banning all other gods
632: The Muslim army conquers the Arabian peninsula
632: Mohammed delivers his last sermon on Mount Arafat
632: Mohammed dies having created a kingdom in the central Arabian peninsula
632: The Shiites, or Partisans of Ali, claim that Ali should succeed Mohammed based on blood relation, but the council of the elderly (Sunnites) choses instead Abu Bakr
632: Abu Bakr, one of Mohammed's followers and the first Muslim caliph ("prophet's successor"), quells upheavals throughout Arabia and declares war on the Roman (Byzantine) and Persian (Sassanid) empires
633: Abu Bakr conquers southern Mesopotamia
634: Abu Bakr defeats Byzantium in Palestine
634: Abu Bakr is succeeded by Umar ibn Abn Khattab
636: The Arabs defeat the Byzantine army at Yarmuk and capture Jerusalem
637: The Arabs win the battle of Qadisiya, capture Seleucia-Ctesiphon and the Sassanid empire ends
639: the Arabs conquer Syria (mainly Nestorian) from Byzantium
642: the Arabs conquer Egypt (mainly monophysite) from Byzantium, destroy the library of Alexandria and found the first mosque in Africa, Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque (the site of future Cairo)
642: Oldest extant manuscript in Arabic (with disambiguation dots)
644: Umar is murdered and is succeeded by Uthman ibn Affan, a Quraysh
647: the Arabs expand in nothern Africa
649: the Arabs attack Byzantium on the sea and conquer Cyprus
650: the Arabs conquer the whole of Persia
650: Youstol Dispage Fromscaruffi dies
655: the text of the Quran/Koran is finalized
656: Uthman is murdered and is succeeded by Ali (cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed), the first "imam" of Shiah (and only one to become also caliph), who moves the capital from Medina to Kufa
661: Ali is murdered and is succeeded as caliph by Mu'awiya ibn Abi Sufyan, first of the Umayyads and first caliph not to be an early follower of Mohammed, and by Hasan as imam
661: Mu'awiya moves the capital to Damascus (in Syria rather than Arabia) and creates an army of paid mercenaries
662: Ziyad ibn Abihi is appointed governor of Iraq (Basra) and the former Sassanid provinces
664: the Arabs conquer Afghanistan
669: Hasan dies and Hussein becomes imam
670: the Arabs led by Uqba ibn Nafi fight the Berbers in northern Africa
670: the Arabs found Qayrawan in Tunisia
674: the Arabs attack Byzantium
679: the Arabs are defeated from Byzantium
680: Mu'awiya dies and the shiite pretendent to the Caliphate, Husayn/Hussein, Ali's son and Mohammed's grandson, is assassinated by sunnite troops of Mu'awiya's son Yazid in Karbala
685: Abd Malik becomes caliph and introduces administrative reforms (Arabic language as the official language, coins with Islamic verses)
691: the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem is the oldest evidence of the Quran
692: Hajjaj ibn Yusuf captures Mecca and ends the anti-caliphate of Abdallah ibn Zubayr (shiite)
695: the Arabs build the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem (with the first inscription from the Koran)
696: Arabic becomes the official language of the Islamic world
697: the Arabs force the Persians to abandon the Pahlavi alphabet in favor of the Arabic script
698: the Arabs recapture Carthage and found Tunis
700: Hasan Basri preaches virtue, mortification, prayer, purity of heart to attain knowledge of God
705: caliph Walid I
708: Arabs led by Musa ibn-Nusayr conquer Tangiers (Morocco) and subdue the Berbers
709: Qutayba ibn Muslim invades Central Asia (Merv, Bukhara, Samarkand)
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709: the Al Aqsa mosque is built in Jerusalem
710: a mosque is built in Damascus
711: Tariq ibn Ziyad conquers southern Spain from the Visigoths of king Roderic (with help from the Jews) and Cordoba becomes the residence of the Arab governor
712: a Berber army under Tariq ibn Ziyad conquers southern Spain from the Visigoths and Cordoba becomes the residence of the Arab governor
712: the first mosque is built in Bukhara, which will become the second holiest city in Islam after Mecca
715: calip Sulayman besieges Byzantium
715: a mosque is built in Aleppo
712: the Arabs, led by Kutayba ben Muslim, conquer Transoxania and convert the Turks to Islam
715: Qutayba dies and Muslim expansion in Central Asia comes to an end
717: The Arabs lay siege to Byzantium
718: Byzantium repels the Arab invasion
720: the Arabs capture Narbonne
720: the Zayids do not recognize the imam Baqir and cause a split within the shiites
725: the Arabs capture Carcassonne
728: caliph Hisham attacks the Franks at Tours and Poitiers
732: the Muslim invasion of Europe is stopped by the Franks at the battle of Tours
737: the Arabs capture Provence
740: the Shias of Yemen split from the main Shia tradition claiming that Zayd was the rightful fifth imam instead of Muhammad al Baqir
749: Abu 'l-'Abbas Saffah, whose army is led by the Persian general Abu Muslim Khorasani, replaces the Umayyad dynasty with the Abbasid dynasty
751: the Arabs defeat the Chinese at the battle of the Talas River, which de facto closes the Silk Road
751: the Arabs acquire the knowledge of paper from the Chinese (first paper mill in the Islamic world founded in Samarkand)
752: the Franks under Pippin expel the Arabs from Provence
756: The last surviving member of the Umayyad dynasty flees to Spain, Hisham's grandson, establishing himself as Cabd al-Rahman I of Spain, which becomes a separate emirate
750: the Ibadis believe that that the most worthy person should be imam and found an imamate in Oman
759: the Muslim army is expelled from France
760: the Islails do not recognize the seventh imam Musa Kazim and cause another split within the shiites
712: The ascetic Abd Rustam founds a theocratic kingdom in central Algeria with capital in Tihert/ Tahert
744: Salih ibn Tarif proclaims himself a prophet, writes a religious book in Berber language, and founds a Berber kingdom in central Morocco for the Barghwata people
762: the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur moves the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, built near the old Sassanid capital, Ctesiphon
775: Al-Mansur dies
777: Ibadis form an imamate in western Algeria with capital in Tahart
778: Charlemagne attacks the Muslims and invades northeastern Spain but is defeated
785: the Great Mosque at Cordoba
786: Harun Rashid becomes the fifth Abbasid caliph, a protector of scientists and scholars
786: Idris, a descendants of Ali and Fatima, founds the Idrisid dynasty in Morocco with capital in Volubilis
790: Idris, a descendant of Ali, conquers Morocco and founds the Idrisid dynasty
793: Sibawayh formalizes the Arabic language
793: caliph Haroun-el-Raschid establishes paper factory in Baghdad
800: Arab merchants travel to China
800: Shafi preaches that God's will is manifested both by the Koran and by the "sunna" (the practice of Mohammed embodied in "hadiths")
800: The Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid appoints Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab as governor of Ifriqiya (Tunisia and western Libya) and Kairouan/ Al Qairawan becomes the leading African center for Sunni Islam
801: Charlemagne's son Louis captures Barcelona from the Arabs, creating the Spanish March along the Pyrenees (Aragonia and Catalonia)
808: Idris II founds Fez in Morocco
809: Harun Rashid dies, after expanding the caliphate from Gibraltar to the Indu river
813: Al-Mamun defeats his brother in a civil war and becomes caliph
819: the Samanids in Khurasan (Transoxania) become virtually independent
822: Abd al Rahman II becomes the Arab emir of Spain and begins construction of the Alcazar of Sevilla
825: caliph Al-Mamun sponsors translations of Greek classics into Arabic, and founds the first madrasa (a "house of wisdom" in Baghdad)
825: the Arab mathematician Al Khwarizmi of Baghdad writes a book on "Hindu numerals" that spreads the use of "Arabic" numerals
827: an Arab tribe, the Saracens, invade Sicily
830: Ahmad ibn Hanbal: strict obedience to the Koran and the Hadith
833: Sultan al-Mutasim creates a regiment of Turkish slaves
840: the sufist Muhasibi preaches the path to truth
840: Islamic philosophy is founded by Kindi
840: Sibovayh, a Persian scholar, codifies the Arabic grammar and writes the first Arabic dictionary
846: the Uighurs state collapses and the Karakhanid state is founded in Transoxania
849: caliph al-Mutawakkil deposes the patriarch of the Eastern Christian Church and persecutes Christians
850: Eulogious leads a Christian revolt against the Umyyads in Spain
878: the Muslims conquer all of Sicily
930: the philosopher Farabi reconciles the philosopher's logic and religion as a symbolic system to express truth to non-philosophers
850: Hunayn ibn Ishaq translates Greek classics
850: the Persian mathematician Khwarazmi founds Algebra and invents the Arabix numerals
870: Bukhari collects and classifies the "hadiths"
867: the Saffarids (shiite) in eastern Persia become virtually independent with capital in Zaranj (Afghanistan)
868: Ahmad ibn Tulun proclaims Egypt independent and founds the Tulunid dynasty
873: the Samanids (sunni), with capital in Bukhara, rule over Transoxania
874: the twelfth imam disappears
877: Ahmad ibn Tulun, govemor of Egypt, invades Syria
878: the Arabs capture Sicily and make Palermo their capital
879: the Safarid ruler Yaqub Leys revolts against the Arabs and unifies most of Persia
880: the Abbasid dynasty is replaced in Egypt by a Turkic dynasty
890: the Abbasids suppress the imamate of Oman
899: the Samanids defeat the Saffarids and expand their empire to Persia but adopt the Persian language
900: the sufist Junayd preaches the ecstasy of enlightment
909: the Ibadi imamate of Tahart (Algeria) dissolves
910: Ubaydullah, a descendant of Ali and Fatima (Mohammed's daughter) and an imam, conquers Tunisia and founds the Fatimid dynasty
912: the Umayyad ruler of Spain, Abd Rahman III, assumes the title of caliph, declaring Spain independent
921: The Fatimid preacher Ubayd Allah leads the Kitama/Kutama Berbers creates a kingdom in Tunisia with capital in Mahdiya
922: the sufist Hallaj is executed in Baghdad for heresy ("I am the truth")
942: the Samanids expands in Central Asia (Bukhara, Samarkand, Herat) and move their capital to Bukhara, which becomes one of the cultural centers of the Muslim world
945: the Buyids (shiite) descend from the Caspian Sea, and invade Persia
949: Adud Dawla of the Buyid dynasty adopts the Persian imperial title shah
950: Pahlavi, the language of Persia, is reformed according to the Arabic script
955: the Karakhanid state converts to Islam
961: Al-Hakam II al Mustansir becomes caliph of Spain and fosters scientific and philosophical studies
968: Byzantium conquers northern Syria
969: the Fatimids (shiites) conquer Egypt and establish the Fatimid caliphate (shiite)
972: a fire kills 17 thousand people in Baghdad
972: The Fatimid move to Egypt and leave Tunisia and northern Algeria to governor Buluggin ibn Ziri of the Zirid dynasty
973: The Fatimids move their capital to the newly-founded city of Cairo (Qahira)
976: Hisham II al Muayyad becomes caliph of Spain and orders the destruction of books of astronomy and logic because heretic
977: the Buyid shah Adud Dawla conquers Baghdad and seizes effective control of the caliphate from the Abbasids
977: Sebaktigin, king of the Ghaznavid kingdom, invades northern India and Central Asia
978: The Fatimids conquer Damascus
996: Al-Hakim becomes caliph of Fatimid Egypt
999: the Ghaznavids of Afghanistan defeat the Samanids of Persia in Khurasan and the Qarakhanids seize Bukhara
1000: Timbuktu is founded in Africa by Muslim traders
1014: The Berber governor Hammad ibn Buluggin declares independence from the Zirids and founds a kingdom in northern Algeria
1016: Pisa and Genoa defeat the Arabs in the Tyrrhenian Sea
1017: Hamza ibn 'Ali ibn Ahmad founds the Unitarian (also called Druze) sect
1018: Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim protects the Druze sects and executes the heretic Ad-Darazi
1020: the philosopher Ibn Sina Avicenna writes the Canon of Medicine
1021: Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim dies
1030: Mahmud Ghazni dies and the Ghaznavid empire declines
1031: The Umayyad caliphate of Spain collapses and Muslim Spain splits into the Taifa kingdoms (including Sevilla, Toledo, Saragossa, Granada but also city-states ruled by Arab, Berber and even Slavic soldiers)